


A Mirror, Darkly

by Tasseomancy



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Body Horror, Dark Fantasy, Existential Horror, F/F, F/M, Looking Glass AU, M/M, Multi, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Psychological Horror, The Evanuris are Terrifying, Weird Magic Concepts, elf hell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 14:06:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8288443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tasseomancy/pseuds/Tasseomancy
Summary: They wake and the world is different, less than it was. The People are diminished, the Dreaming sealed away. They mourn and their descendants try to help them heal. He regrets but does not regret. He is not proud of this, but the alternative was so much worse. At night, she dreams, and sees shapes behind mirrors.[Not Dead. Getting a minor overhaul as I get moving on this bastard. Update soonish.][New version of chapter 2 up]





	1. Scene: A Broken Man Meets a Girl Raised by Wolves

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Looking Glass](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4867676) by [Feynite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feynite/pseuds/Feynite). 



> First off thank you for giving what's bound to be a real rollercoaster of bizarre shit a chance! 
> 
> This story is clearly, an au of DA but it's also just as much an au of Looking Glass by the very talented and kind Feynites. This fic draws just as much from Feynites work as it does canon, and while I'm fairly certain that reading LG isn't mandatory for understanding things it doesn't hurt. I recommend reading it if you haven't already mainly because it's good and I like it so I'm gonna pimp it but you do you! 
> 
> Thenvunin and Curiosity are Feynites' ocs.

She knows perfectly well she's not supposed to be here at night.

 

The site is, like most things, off limits and closed off at this time of night. But right now she doesn’t care, she’s in a mood— a rare mood were she feels liberated and free from all her nagging anxieties and more like she’s a character in one of Varric’s stories. A young woman wanders off into the night alone after a night out with friends who follows a sudden whim into an adventure. The idea crackles like electricity on her skin.

 

It is 1:30am and Inanallas Lavellan is breaking into the ancient elvhen site she and her coworkers are currently documenting and checking for still sleeping ancients. She’s still got her credentials on her so if she _is_ found out she at least won’t get arrested but this is still on the whole, a _hilariously_ bad idea. Which is why she’s doing it. Because that makes sense. It’s dark and the dark doesn’t make getting down the steps clearly made with _giants_ in mind any easier, it’s only by the accumulated experience she’s gained over roughly 5 years of stair based paranoia working on these sites she makes down without incident. She walks into what they think might be an antechamber of come kind. There are some very faint glows stretching through the massive chamber and connected halls, veilfire and old magic still valiantly fighting against the pitch black after millennia and the creation of the veil.

 

She’s still throughly convinced that if she lights a light she’ll die instantly somehow —probably a horrible previously unseen monster or undead— regardless of how stupid that idea is. Her rational mind knows it so with a simple gesture she creates a small floating ball of magical light above her in defiance as she numbly embraces her inevitable death.

 

Which doesn’t happen. Unsurprisingly. They’d already gone through and cleared this floor and several floors above it and warded all the entryways into the areas they haven’t gotten to yet a to prevent that exact event.

 

She stays still for a moment and just looks around the chamber as she give her nerves a chance to settle. The sense of tingling excitement returns now her usual fears are ousted and joined by muted awe. The structure is massive and in the dim light of her magic it feels like there’s no ceiling, like it just goes _up_ for forever. The chamber is a forest of beautifully carved pillars holding up exquisite arches and vaulted ceilings. It is very empty and very quiet and now seeing it at night nothing about it feels real. Like it’s become more like the crossroads only it feels somehow _alive_ , like while they haven’t woken their ancestors yet their work as woken it, slowly but surely. 

 

The thought makes the hair on her arms stand on end but it’s not a scary thought just— powerful and strange. Her footsteps echo on the stone floors as she idly walks through, no destination in mind. If this were the Fade right around now would be when Patience and Action would be carting her off to somewhere safer to go for a stroll. But it’s not the Fade, and their better judgement isn’t necessary here. Probably. She’d always assumed her penchant for walking casually into the heart of danger isn’t as pronounced here in the waking world but maybe she’s be wrong all these years. Sounds about right honestly.

 

She tries to imagine what it would be like, to be an ancient elf in the times of Arlathan and to walk these halls back then they were bright and shining and everything was teeming with magic. She’d be taller for one she thinks. Much taller. And the entire place would be lit up spectacularly, with magic and fire glinting off the polished surface of the mosaics in the ceiling and on the pillars.

 

It’s hard to imagine what her life would be like back then even now that she’s actually met Arlathan elves and heard right from the horses mouth what it was like in their day. The way the world was sounds like a dream, too good to be true and exactly what she’s always wanted, but Elvhen’an the empire doesn’t sound like a place where she’d thrive. She’s barely getting on as it is, all that constant magically pumped up telenovela drama would be impossible. Vivienne would probably be crowned queen in a week.

 

She wanders aimlessly for a while, just trying to stay quiet while she enjoys the liminal sense empty places can have. She wishes Patience and Action were here, it'd be nice to have some company in this big lonely ruin regardless of how much she likes to wander alone.

 

  
_Maybe they are_ , she thinks, _maybe they're walking with me on their side_. She can almost see the shadowy shapes of canines in the her periphery, almost hear the padding of clawed paws. Almost. 

 

She tries not to think about it too much just in case it's more than just her imagination. She didn't come here to do unintentional magic and accidentally light a heritage site on fire.

 

 

_________

Solas had not anticipated being so weak or disorientated when he woke. He pauses in his efforts to get up from his makeshift bed, takes a minute to close his eyes and focus on his breath, the feel of air in his lungs, cloth on his skin, the weight of his own body. He had almost forgotten how different it was to be in his own physical body, one of the dangers of uthenara he supposed. Once he felt his sense of realness was sufficient he returned to the process of getting up and leaving the chamber. 

 

The darkness was pressing, the air was unnervingly still. Swiftly he lit a small magical light for himself. It was simple enough and the spell went without incident but the process was...different. Difficult. He supposed that made sense given the Veil's existence now but it still unsettled him deeply. This sense of inherent wrongness in the process of gathering magic from the Fade. It settled on his skin like oil. 

 

He was not ignorant to what had transpired while he slept. He knew the world had changed, he'd watched as much as he could, as best as he could. But there was a difference between what one saw echoed in the Fade and what occurred here and sometimes that difference was unimaginably vast. He supposed this was one of those cases, he would just have to get used to it.

 

He walked silently through the halls mulling over things and focusing on the feel of the cool stone on his soles, letting it ground him further to the waking world. He had sequestered himself off in a small disused storeroom in the lower levels of the building while he slept off the exhaustion and regained his strength. If he was honest he'd all but gone to sleep in plain sight even with all his efforts to stow himself away. But the aftermath had been messy and he hadn't had time or energy to hide himself somewhere safer, as it was he was just thankful he hadn't been found and killed or crushed while he slept. 

 

He paused at the door to the main level. Someone, for whatever reason, had warded it shut from the other side. He frowned and examined the wards more closely. After a moment he reached out and gently laid his palms on the wood boards, ignoring the unnatural sensation of the veil and letting his own magic slip into the alien spell. Methodically he began to pick it apart, dissecting and analyzing it as he went. It was a very recent spell and cast differently than how his people cast. He would not call it rudimentary, there was some solid skill to it, but it lacked a certain _elegance_ the magic of his people held. 

 

He filed those findings away for later as the ward broke and he opened the door. They had clearly placed it here for a reason which meant his chance of encounters, dangerous or not, was high. His heart slowly climbed into his throat as his put out his light and steeled himself for the unknown. 

 

He slipped silent as a whisper into the main hall, taking his time he stuck close to the pillars as he looked for signs of life. There were vague shapes throughout the room, some he recognized— Chairs, boxes, scaffolding— some he had to take a moment to try and place— electric lights, power cords and outlets. He'd pause for longer on those newer items, it was the first chance he’d had to examine them in their solid form. If he wasn't erring to caution he might've stayed and set out dissecting the lights but he reigned in his curiosity and returned to trying to exit the building. 

 

After a moment he froze then immediately hid behind a pillar, snuffing out his little light as he went. He could hear footsteps now, an echoing clack of heels possibly coming closer. Was it the caster of that ward? Had they'd known their spell had been tampered with and come to investigate? He was caught there for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. His knowledge of events, culture and customs since he’d fallen unconscious was incomplete, his understanding of the new primary language was rudimentary at best. He doubted they would attack him on sight but he also couldn't rule it out. He had no idea who they were or why they were here. He could step out and make his prescene known and risk a chance at possible aid or violence, or stay hidden and maintain his advantage. 

 

Carefully he glanced around the pillar and looked for the intruder. He only had to look for a little before his gaze settled on a young elven woman half way through the room, a small sphere of light floating above her head illuminating her. Hope and fear ran through him like lightening, an elf was simultaneously the most and least likely to help him, depending on what was known about him.

 

He searched for any clue for which was more likely in her case. 

 

Her dark hair was up in a messy bun giving him a clear view of her face and her vallaslin. His heart dropped into his stomach. Now _that_  was a blow. He had hoped that the vallaslin would die out with Elvhen’an. Though as he looked at her face more perhaps it wasn't vallaslin, it wasn't any of the designs he recognized so unless there had been changes to their design in recent times it was possible it was simply a facial tattoo. He prayed that was the case. 

 

The tattoos themselves were certainly... _menacing_ with multiple eyes on her forehead and her cheeks almost completely black. Which was utterly incongruous with the rest of her appearance, she was small and delicate looking, almost comically so. The style is different— naturally, he hardly expected something like clothing styles to stay the same— but her clothes are clearly civilian, nothing remotely like armor or padding and all very comfortable and basic. Just a simple long skirt and a loose sweater tucked into it. She’s carrying a decently sized bag on one shoulder which seemed like the most potentially threatening thing about her. Not counting her magic, a mage didn’t need to be physically impressive to be deadly. 

 

He examined her harder as if trying to will more information into existence and he did a dawning horror rose over him. It is the realization that the reason he cannot sense her, cannot feel that intrinsic magical part of all elves in her, why he cannot feel her emotions flowing through the air, isn’t because he’s still recovering but _that it simply is not there_.

 

He wants to scream.

 

He wants to vomit.

 

He cannot bear looking at her anymore so he retreats back behind his pillar and _reels_.

 

He clasps a hand to his mouth as he tries to contain it all inside him. He did this. The Veil did this. To her. To possibly all elves. To the world. He’d known there’d be repercussions, casualties, that many things would be changed at their basest nature but _this_. He had not anticipated it, had not comprehended how _visceral_ the change would be, would feel. He has never been more _disgusted_ with himself. He has to fix this, somehow, someway. He has to at least try, see if it’s possible, improve this horror he’s created. 

 

Remotely, he is aware he is beginning to have a panic attack. He closes his eyes and focuses on nothing but the dark and his breath as he carefully works his way back from that ledge inside him. When he’s calm enough he can contain his emotions he lets himself think about things again.

 

If he wants to fix things he cannot make snap judgments. He has to see more of the world as it is then make decisions. This is the first elf of this time he’s seen outside of memories in the Fade, they could be an anomaly. Other things may not have been mauled so throughly by his actions, perhaps some had benefited and given validity to this world. He doubts it deep in his heart but still, he has to cleave to hope, even false ones.

 

His mind made, he steels himself again and steps out from behind the pillar and into the open. He considers speaking in common but he’s still unsure of his own ability with it and since they are  similar to him they might know some of his language. It’s worth a shot. 

 

" _Andaran Atish’an_ "

 

She starts wildly, jumping almost completely around in the air to face him and not the mosaic she’s been studying. Her already large eyes are even larger with surprise and, if he’s reading her expression correctly, fear. Her hands leap to clutch her heart and he now sees there are tattoos on her them as well. 

 

He’s surprised when she calms down quicker than he would have anticipated, though it’s obvious by her posture she's not completely at ease. She smiles awkwardly in a way that vaguely reminds him of children being caught in the act.

 

" _A-andaran Atish’an lethallin. Ah… Ma then….sahlin…?_ ”

 

Her speak is stilted and he cannot tell if it’s from lack of fluency or an over abundancy of nerves. 

 

He nods. “ _Yes, just now._ "

 

She nods in return before looking around the room and seeming to come to a decision and her shoulders settle into a more determined set.

 

" _Welcome back then._ " she says. " _you're not the first to wake up. Not here but, in the world._ "

 

He processes that. " _And am I correct in thinking you have met these others?_ "

 

She hesitates then nods has she understands. " _I was there when it started and I'm part of a group that works with elves like yourself to acclimate._ "

 

That's-- That's not at all what he was suspecting. It seems perhaps luck has graced him for once, to have the first person he meets be the most apt to help him learn more about the current era. 

 

he bows slightly. “ _It's a pleasure to meet you then, my name is Solas._ "

 

* * *

 

Inanallas blinks up at the tall man in front of her, surprised. He’s very fancy, in a subdued kind of way, unlike some of the others they’d encountered over the years who’d been dressed in excessively rich outfits. His clothes were simple with only minor embellishment but the material was clearly fine. Unlike Abelas he had no armor or weapons she could see, which was nice. Abelas had nearly skewered her and she didn’t want a repeat of that fiasco. She keeps coming back to his head because it’s just _so bald_. She’s seen bald people before but on him it’s just _distracting_ for some reason, probably because she’s nervous and she doesn’t know where to look to seem normal. _Why is he bald? Why?_  


 

 

 " _Your parents named you Pride? That must have been interesting growing up._ "

 

He makes a bit of a face which actually _does_ reminds her a bit of Abelas, though it's not as antagonistic, but it’s got that ‘ _here we go_ ’ feel to it he gets sometimes. " _No, I’m dreaming born, no parents named me._ "

 

She hums in comprehension. She’s met dreaming born elves. Curiosity, her supervisor, is one. She’s found them fascinating since she’d learned about it, the idea of spirits taking bodies, actual real bodies no possession required is one of the things she regrets they lost. Though all that probably wasn’t the best thing to say right now. Or ever. Or really just to anyone who _wasn’t_ Curiosity. Curiosity got her interest since, well, _Curiosity_.

 

" _That makes sense then. It’s a pleasure to meet you Solas, I’m Inanallas_."

 

his brows quirk up as he looks at the tattooed eyes on her forehead then back down to meet her eyes once more.  " _I see._ "

 

She’s used to it, it’s like a reverse boob stare, just they go up instead of down before pretending they didn’t. It makes her self conscious sometimes but given how she’d just poked fun at his being called “Pride” it was well within his right to take a jab at her being called “Eyes”.

 

She smiles and laughs a little, feeling some of the anxiety in her chest unclench. " _I know, I know. I’m not much better on that front. How about we get out of here? I’m not supposed to be here and there’s more comfortable places for you to sleep than here._ "  

 

He looks instantly on guard. Whoops. “ _You’re not supposed to be here?_ " 

 

" _Um… Well. It’s about 2 in the morning… the site is closed off. I’m part of the team working here but I just wanted to explore it a little alone…"_  


 

Solas gives her another look, this one definitely at about 40% Abelas Disapproves. " _At 2 in the morning?_ "

 

She looks away awkwardly and shrugs. " _I didn’t say it was a good idea. I was already out and I was close by so I thought 'why not?'._ "

 

She feels a bit like she’s running a lingual marathon. Her spoken elvhen is leaps and bounds better than most of the other modern elves she knows thanks to Patience and Action but they’re hitting a lot of shit she hasn’t had a reason to use and she’s suffering. The language is so disgustingly vague at the best of times she’s not really sure she’s getting the right meanings across here. At this point she wouldn’t be surprised if he thought she was a criminal or something and sHIT— how the fuck was she going to explain this tomorrow when they go to the office? _Oh yeah I just sort of found this ancient elven guy wandering around on the way home **definitely NOT** in the ancient possibly dangerous ruins I know very well I’m not allowed in after dark, **definitely** not how that fucking happened._  

 

She’s going to die.

 

She’s going to die and get fired and disappoint Keeper Deshanna and end up poor and homeless but mostly she’s just going to fucking _die_. Instantly. The second she walks into work tomorrow. 

 

Welp.

 

Solas shakes his head before running a hand over his face. " _Of course. Naturally. Who wouldn’t?_ "

 

Barely ten minutes into this relationship and she’s getting roasted. Okay. Alright. Okay. Well, she’s walked into that one at least.

 

She sort of laugh-cries from shame and nerves for second before just shrugging. She’s got nothing. Defense rests. 

 

" _It worked out didn’t it? I ended up being here when you woke up._ "

 

“True." He concedes. " _And I_ would _appreciate any help you can give, if you are so willing._ "

 

Inanallas clutches her bag’s strap for moral support. Even if all this gets her banned to the Negative Zone she didn’t want to leave him here, it’s just not right and it’s not policy. It’s a relief that she doesn’t have to try and coerce him into coming with her. Now she just has to figure out where to take him. If this was happening normally she’d be taking him to the office then one of the buildings they’d rented expressly for the purpose of housing the dreamers while they got their bearings and decided what they wanted to do.

 

But this isn’t happening normally and she can’t go into offices this late nor does she have keys or anything for those buildings so— they’re not doing that. She has a small, dinky apartment close to the site they’d given her for the duration of this job, it’s practically a studio but there’s a pull out couch he could sleep on. _That could work_. 

 

" _Well… since it’s so late I can’t really do anything yet. But you can stay with me tonight and tomorrow we can go and do things correctly. There are other elves from your time on our team, you can speak to them tomorrow too. Unless, you’d want to talk to them now…_ "

 

He seems thoughtful as he mulls that over, it’s an intense scary kind of mulling over. Like, Thenvas after Varric tells a joke scary. Which is…. something. She doesn’t want to make any judgments on him just now but it’s definitely _something_.

 

" _No, It’s fine, I wouldn’t want to impose more than I already am, that can wait until tomorrow. It’s kind of you to allow me to stay in your home, thank you very much._ "

 

She's never been good with getting thanks so she just sort of gestures awkwardly like an idiot. " _It’s nothing don’t worry about it. Just um… follow me._ "

 

With that, she turns back the way she came her new houseguest falling easily in step next to her and tries not to think about the shit she is going to get for this for in the morning. 

 


	2. Exeunt: Kicked Out by an Ancient Elf

Getting to her apartment had been interesting. Solas had been keenly interested in her rental car, he'd apparently seen cars in the Fade and was deeply interested how they worked. She wasn't much help on that but did her best and informed him that they could look up a better explanation later and they could teach him how to drive if he wanted. She'd attempted to explain the basics of a radio then asked what he'd like to listen to, music or talk radio. He'd picked talk radio instantly (to her dismay) and she'd flipped from her aux cord to FPR. She was beginning to think Solas was probably as insatiable about learning as Curiosity was, which meant she'd be giving more awful explanations in the future. Hopely not in elvhen, it was difficult enough as it is to explain this shit without doing it in a language that hadn't had any new vocabulary in a few thousand years.  

 

The ride had been uneventful, Solas had asked a few small questions here or there but mainly listened to the radio intensely. He seemed to be able to understand at least some of it, or at least get the jist which was heartening. It got things moving faster when they had at least some familiarity with common from the Fade. Before long they were parking and getting out of the car. 

 

And her anxiety immediately kicked in the second she realized all the shit they'd have to navigate to get from the parking lot to her apartment and she'd reached out and snatched his hand without thinking. It had been immediately mortifying and she still wanted to punch herself in the face for it, but she'd kept holding on since the only thing worse than that would have been if she'd let go right after grabbing it like an asshole. She wasn't trying to be patronizing and she was sure he was more than capable of walking without being lead along by the hand. It was just-- 

 

You could never be too safe, it was dark and while there wasn't a lot traffic it was still there. There were a lot things that could go wrong when you lacked the kind of background cues gained from living in the time period. Besides, she always held hands for safety with her friends when they crossed the street  _because she wasn't a bad friend_. He'd started slightly, looking down at her in surprise and she'd just tried to play it off as totally natural. Just you know, what the young folk do these days. 

 

 

 

 

 

When they'd made it inside he'd done his best to be unobtrusive and polite but she could see he was analyzing her sorry little shoebox. Self-consciousness overtook her instantly and compelled her to explain this was temporary living and not her real home like that would help somehow. Then she'd set up the couch bed (deeply embarrassing to do with an audience), quickly explained the bathroom, asked if he'd like a change of clothes before realizing there was no way she had anything even near his size, gave up on life, turned to her room and remembered the doors to it where glass orlesian doors so he'd be able to see her have a meltdown and just went to bed praying she’d be kidnapped or killed in the night. 

 

Sadly, she had not been, it was now morning and they were heading off to the office to get him sorted out. Inanallas had woken up before her alarms which she supposed, bleakly, was better than sleeping through all of them even if that was more fun. She'd gotten dressed in a blindspot of her room and then quietly slipped out into the living room. Solas had been still asleep, partially sprawled and very clearly shirtless which had _several_ sirens screeching in her head so she rocketed into the bathroom then woke him when she got out which had been it's own harrowing experience. 

 

He'd woken up like an ideal guest, a little muffled and politely mild but it meant she'd had to touch a stranger's _bare shoulder_ and make them not asleep and that was just too much.She'd then retreated to the tiny kitchen and busied herself making breakfast to give him his privacy. They'd then eaten said breakfast and gotten in the car again all with just minor conversation. He seemed like he was still groggy and more than content to just watch her every move like a panther writing their thesis as she ran around the apartment getting ready from his place eating cereal at the table. 

The offices they were renting were in a building that was maybe 15 minutes away from her place. They were small and very basic, her group never put much time into decorating since they'd only be in one location for as long as that project took. Unless Thenvunin was on the team then he made a valiant effort to make things look less drab. She did _not_ take his hand this time as they walked in, took the elevator up to the 3rd floor and made their way into the rented suite of rooms. 

 

The walls were bare of decoration but chock full of haphazardly pinned up maps, papers, pictures, notes and a single calendar. Desks were pushed up against walls with mountains of papers next to or on them along with small attempts at personalization, the center was dominated by a series of tables they used for pretty much everything which also had things on it. There were a few people in milling about, only a handful of people worked here every day, the rest of them tended to split their time between here and the site. In the back was a small kitchenette in another room next to the only two real offices there. Professors Hightower and Rousseau's office was still dark which was a relief, she didn't want to be victim to her Disapproving Stare or lectured by his pompous ass this early in the morning. The other office's door was open and the lights on, her heart sank a little. Yes, she had to talk to at least _one_ of the project managers about this but she'd hoped for maybe a little more time.  

 

She greeted people as they went through to the open office, trying to ignore the looks at Solas who was just a step behind her like a studious shadow and prayed it wasn't Merrill who in there. 

 

Merrill was in there.  

 

Along with Curiosity, Their boss, a tall, dark haired ancient elven woman who was usually pretty reasonable and hopefully hadn’t decided to _not_ be reasonable today. 

 

They look up from the documents on Curiosity's desk at her at unison.  

 

Two pairs of owlish eyes locked with another pair of owlish eyes and their 12 menacing brethren. 

 

Merrill expression shifts to confusion at the two of them while, to her surprise, Curiosity is zeroed in on Solas, face contorting with increasing alarm. The older woman is the first to act, shooting up from her chair and walking straight over to Solas. The two say nothing for a moment, just staring intensely at each other like they’re trying to memorize each others face or something. The air becomes more and more charged as Curiosity becomes more and more furious. Suddenly she smacks his shoulder, then smacks it again, and again, he flinches each time as the blows get harder.  

 

" _Where have you— Why did you— Why couldn't you—! I was worried! I looked—! I am going to— You stupid idiot! Why didn’t you tell me were you went!_ " 

 

The two younger elves just awkwardly stand there watching them and catching each other’s eyes to shoot nervous looks, totally lost at sea. Solas looks positively heartbroken, doing nothing to defend himself against her while Curiosity looks like she might cry at any moment. Solas finally seems to work up the strength to try and reply to her fury. 

 

“ _Curiosity, I am so sor—_ " 

 

He doesn't get a chance to finish as Curiosity pulls him into a crushing hug, burying her face in his shoulder. He looks about as shocked as if she'd stabbed him instead and after a long moment he hesitantly hugs her back. 

 

Curiosity's voice escapes from the fabric of his shirt muffled. " _It's fine now. We'll talk later._ " 

 

Inanallas can see his throat bob as finally, his arms tighten around her as his hold become more desperate.  

 

It all feels very private and Inanallas suddenly feels very intrusive standing so closely to them and looks away. Merrill shuffles awkwardly near Curiosity's desk not sure whether to be happy or concerned or what. After a long moment Curiosity finally releases him and pulls back enough to look at him and then Inanallas. 

 

She flips back into common with ease. "So where did you find him?" 

 

She blinks, she’d forgotten about all that for a second. 

 

"Ah, the ruins?" 

 

"Just now?" 

 

"No... Um, last night..." 

 

"You were in the ruins in the middle of the night?!" Merrill snaps in her First Voice. 

 

Inanallas cringes and folds into herself. "Yes." 

 

Curiosity crosses her arms. "Why?" 

 

Inanallas grimaces. "I dunno? Seemed like a good idea at the time?"  

 

“It seemed like a—!” Merrill exclaims. "You could have been hurt! Or arrested or a hundred other things!" 

 

“Apparently their warnings about her weren’t just for the Fade," Curiosity sighes. "Don't do it again. Or-- _do_ but bring me with you." 

 

"Or me!" Merrill interjects abandoning her spot at the desk completely and joining them at the doorway. “Or both of us! You should never go somewhere like that alone! What were you thinking!" 

 

“She just said she wasn’t so there’s no reason to ask that. But she’s not dead or anything so let’s not worry about it too much for right now. We can think of a good punishment later, Patience and Action will have some ideas I think. For now let’s focus on Solas."  

 

Her heart sinks at the mention of her spirit friends. Shit. They’re going to flay her alive for wandering off , this is exactly the sort of thing they’ve been telling her _not_ to indulge in since she was like, 6. But this is not the complete annihilation she was dreading— though she suspects that she’s getting off relatively easy because of the older elves' familiarity. 

 

"So did you find anything else interesting or just him?"   

 

"Just him."  

 

"Sleeping?" 

 

“No. We met in the main hall." 

 

Curiosity hums, Inan can see the thoughts sliding around in her head but cannot for the life of her guess what they are. 

 

“Right— Inanallas, Merrill, why don't you start getting all his paperwork in order? I'm going to talk to Pride for a while.” Curiosity addresses them but her gaze, while far off, is fixed on Solas. 

 

Inanallas lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding, she’s safe and the worst of this mess is off her plate for now. “Right. Sure. No problem." 

 

She makes to leave, Merrill falling in step with her, when Curiosity seems to come back to the real world and places a hand on her shoulder.  

 

"Thank you, for finding him. He's a pain in the neck but he's _my_ pain in the neck." 

 

Inanallas can’t help but smile weakly up at the taller woman before turning away and looking at the floor, suddenly deeply self conscious. Curiosity is nice, she’s one of the few ancient elves that doesn’t keep treating them all like children and she’s always been a good friend to her. She’s glad she could do something for her, even if it was unintentional.  

 

“Don’t mention it.” She mutters to a carpet tile.  

 

Curiosity gives her a squeeze then releases her and the two younger elves leave the room. There’s a click as the door closes behind them and Inanallas can’t help but look back, just for a moment. 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

Once they’re maybe 15 minutes into the relocation process Merrill’s anger finally gives way to her curiosity.   

 

“ _So_... he was very tall. And bald." 

 

Inan looks up from the spreadsheet of apartment info she’d been glaring at. “I know! That’s what I thought when I saw him!" 

 

“And how do they know each other?! They’re obviously close, do you think they’re friends? Or Siblings!—Oh but that’s not possible Curiosity was a spirit. She doesn’t have siblings least not the way we think of them, I suppose other spirits of Curiosity would be her relatives wouldn’t they? But if they _are_ siblings I should introduce myself properly, since I’m dating his sister. I should probably do that even if they’re just friends, it’s just rude not to." 

 

“I don’t know!” Inan replies in a rush. “You’ll have to ask them— He’s a former spirit too so maybe that’s part of it. I didn’t want to pry too much, I was already really suspicious and I didn’t want to get blown up so I just sort of kept to myself. Frankly I’m not sure how family trees work for spirits, I don’t know if they even really have anything like that— it’s never really come up." 

 

Merrill gasps excitedly. “He’s dreaming born too?! How interesting! I didn’t know that— well of course I didn’t I just met him, but he didn’t give off that _air_ you know, of spirityness. Like Curiosity and the others do." 

 

“Well he didn’t really talk much earlier did he? I didn’t notice anything too spirity last night but we basically went back to my place and right to bed." 

 

Merrill puts a hand to her chest and smiles cheekily. “ _Oooo Inanallas_ ~!" 

 

she smacks her arm. “What was I going to do? Make him sleep in my car?" 

 

Merrill giggles. “Oh no you couldn’t do that. He’s much too tall, he’d never fit! He’d get all mushed in there." 

 

Inan nods like this is all very serious. “Exactly. I put him on the sofa bed and that seemed to work out fine— at least he didn’t complain about it." 

 

Merrill pouts a little. “Oh that’s not as fun." 

 

“What? Were you really hoping for something _different_?" 

 

“Well, I thought it’d be _interesting_ if it was more like Varric’s books. The whole ‘meeting a mysterious stranger at night’ thing you know, it’s just like how all his stories start. It’s good though that it’s not I suppose, otherwise it’d be dirty or half the town would die. Or both. Poor Aveline, her life has been so hard." 

 

Inan laughs. “Merrill, I don’t think we need anyone’s help fucking things up, we manage it pretty well as is between the 3 of us." 

 

“I don’t know, we’re not as good at is as Hawke." 

 

They laugh and get back to work, occasionally chatting as they do now that the air between them has cleared. There’s a lot to do to get an Elvhen’an elf squared away, lots of forms to file mainly, most of which are shoddily put together and a headache to get handled properly. The system for how to deal with them is new and in most countries barely any of it works half the time and no one knows how to process it. The two of them are rarely involved with the entire process, that’s the job of the social services branch of Vhenas’aravas, but they have helped with the intake process often since they are frequently there when the dreamers wake up. 

 

Getting him housing is easy, he’s the only person who needs it right now and there’s plenty of open places, but the paperwork for citizenships, IDs, healthcare and all that kind of shit takes longer and are the _worst_. 

 

They’re both glaring over a particularly incomprehensible form from Nevarra when Inan’s phone goes off. Quickly she snatches it up from where she’d dumped it on the table, curses and answers. 

 

A positively livid aristocratic voice starts up the second she takes the call. 

 

“— _Where in the Blazes are you_? It’s 11am, you should have been here _2 hours ago._ ” 

 

She cringes. “I’m sorry Dorian, I had to come into the office first thing and things are all hectic and weird—" 

 

“And _why_ , pray tell, _is this_?” 

 

“Well, I sort of stayed out after we left the bar last night—" 

 

“—And ended up drunk in an alley? Or did you get another, uglier, tattoo than the rest and are now being flayed by Curiosity for it? I’d say coming back from a one night stand but frankly I’d consider that one a miracle at this point.” There’s a bit of a chuckle at the end there at his own wit. 

 

Ass.  

 

“—I went to explore the site on my own and ending up running into an ancient elf.” she grits out. 

 

“What? You—! I cannot believe this, you went and committed a minor crime _without me_? I’m _hurt_ , I thought were we _friends_." 

 

“Dorian you were throughly sloshed when I left there’s no way I’d take you anywhere." 

 

He sniffs imperiously. “I’ll have you know I’m a high functioning alcoholic and I will not stand for this slander." 

 

“ _Dorian._ ” She groans out in a impressively bad impression of his own accent. 

 

“ _Ugh_. Fine, but next time you break and enter you are bringing me. So tell me about this elf, I assume you abandoned me the morning to get them all squared away?" 

 

“Yes. His name is Solas and he’s apparently a friend of Curiosity’s or something like that." 

 

“Oh now that is interesting, I think I’m even _more_ _upset_ you left me behind now. Is that all you have?" 

 

“Pretty much, everything else I know about him is that he’s tall, bald and seems pretty smart." 

 

“ _Bald_?” He sounds like the very thought of the idea is offensive. “He can’t be that smart if he thought _that_ was a good look." 

 

“I dunno, I thought it looked okay..." 

 

She can hear the shit eating grin in his voice as a chuckle bubbles out from the speaker. 

 

“ _Oh_? Is he handsome? A paragon of ancient elven beauty? I can’t imagine he’s more attractive than Thenvunin…" 

 

This is not really something she’d considered, nor planned to talk about, if/when she had. Ever. 

 

“Well, he’s certainly got a face so he’s got that going for him. Look— I don’t know Dorian, attractiveness is subjective and I didn’t take notes for an interrogation you’d have to make this call yourself." 

 

 

He laughs. “Alright, Alright. I would’ve anyway, then judged you for your answer after I did. I suppose I will let you off the hook for now since you’ve at least abandoned me for a respectable reason.” 

 

There’s a change in the vibe coming from his side of the line, more gentle and serious.

“Clever banter aside, _you are okay_ right? That was a very dangerous thing to do. I was worried sick when you didn’t show up, you’re never that late without letting me know.”

 

Bless Dorian, he was an insufferably good person sometimes. She relaxes to match his own change, a twinge of guilt in her chest.

 

“I know and I’m sorry about that. I should have let you know what was up but I’m fine I swear. I’ll catch up with you about work and all this shenanigans later today okay?”

 

He hums warmly. “Alright. But! You’re going to have to buy me dinner to apologize." 

 

“Dorian I will buy you all the dinners a very poor elf can afford for the rest of your beautiful life just because you deserve it.”

 

“ _Oh Inanallas~!_ You’re such a charmer! Sh, don’t say anymore or I think I may swoon.”

 

She can’t help but laugh at that. The dork. 

 

“You’re ridiculous.”

 

“ _Me? Ridiculous?_ This coming from the elf who looks like a cartoon villain and is scared of her own shadow?”

 

“ _Goodbye,_ Dorian _._ ” She all but cries to the heavens. 

 

“Goodbye,  _Innie_." 

 

She makes a face and hangs up. Maker, how did he make ‘Innie’ sound exponentially more embarrassing than it was. His very existence was like a perfect, charming, delightful _curse against all livingkind_. She puts her phone back down and turns back to Merrill. 

 

She sighs with the weigh of ages. “So where were we?" 

 

Merrill giggles. “So I take it Dorian’s not mad then? We _did_ sort of leave him in the lurch." 

 

“He’s fine. I’m sure he’s enjoying his unmitigated abuse of power with all of us gone." 

 

Merrill looks dreamily at the ceiling. “I hope he’s making an intern fan him with a great big leaf." 

 

It’s a long time before the door to Curiosity’s office opens and the two older elves come out looking like… _Something_. Inan doesn’t know it’s not really her specialty. Solas looked, bland? Vague? Stoic????? While Curiosity just looked like her normal determined self. She walked over to their little war zone of papers Solas trailing along a bit behind.

 

“How’s it going?”

 

“About as well as you’d expect.”

 

Curiosity takes a moment to look over what they have so far, leaning over their shoulders and sifting through piles like a very nosy bird.

 

“Well, the immediate things are done, so good enough for now.”

 

She straightens up again. “First things first, we should get him settled in own place with his own things so he’s not stuck on your sofa in the same outfit again.”

 

Inan looks awkwardly over Solas who seems just as uncomfortable. 

 

“Okay sure.”

 

Curiosity pulls out her wallet and then takes out the company credit card. She hands it to Inan who takes it with much more reverence then with which it was given. 

 

“Here, go get him into his apartment and then get him some supplies and things. Merrill and I will take what we have of his paperwork and send it to Antiva for them to work on then talk to Dorian and Agnes and see if they need one of us to cover for you.”

 

She got up and put her things away in her bag. 

 

“Okay I’ll give you a call when if we have a question or something I guess then.”

 

“Alright, be safe you two.”

 

Inanallas turned to face Solas and gave her best attempt at a non awkward smile.

 

_“Shall we go?”_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Helpful things:**
> 
>   * FPR stands for Ferelden Public Radio, which is like NPR but with more pieces on mabari.
>   * The organization/institute they all work is best thought of like the Inquistion in that it's huge does practically everything and no one knows how the fuck to deal with it politically/legally. It's name Vhen’avaras means "our people’s journey/journey of the people", their motto/slogan is Mana’ghilani vhenas in Mahvir/To guide the past home in the future.
> 

> 
> **Useless things:**
> 
>   * Completely pointless and just for fun but the thing about hand with inanallas is a reference to [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT9IBFdvdvo) by communitychannel/Natalie Tran whose videos are pretty much inan.mov a lot of the time tbh
> 


**Author's Note:**

> **Helpful Notes:**
> 
>   * Here’s what her [facial tattoos look like](http://captusmomentum.tumblr.com/post/151583354285/semi-legit-thing-of-inanallas-tats-since-the) if you’re interested.
>   * Inanallas’ name is built from “Inan” = Eyes and “Vallas” = Writing. Since there’s no V or apostrophe I tend not to include vallas’ meaning in her name but it’s certainly a thing you can do. which makes her tattoos even more literal. I swear to god I never meant for this to happen. I just wanted a pretty name and it got too real.
> 



End file.
